


Osgood's Gambit

by ncruuk



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncruuk/pseuds/ncruuk
Summary: A winter's weekend afternoon turns into evening and amazingly, there are no aliens or other UNIT-related oddities getting in the way of a log fire and the crossword.  At least, that's assuming no one's infiltrated the local Cubs and Brownies...**spoiler alert - they hadn't ;-)[One-shot standalone within my 'UNIT-verse']





	Osgood's Gambit

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: I'm even less of a chess player than Kate is. Nor was I ever a Guide, Brownie, Cub or Scout. But I'm quite fond of crosswords :-)

“How was it?”

 

“Good.”  Osgood continued on into the room and moved around the end of the sofa that Kate was stretched out on.  “The children were very keen to learn.”

 

“They had an excellent teacher.”  As she spoke, Kate pushed herself into a more upright position so there was room for Os to join her on the sofa if she wanted to.  “You look cold…”

 

“That church hall isn’t very warm.”  Osgood had been able to wrap herself up in her scarf but she didn’t like playing chess while wearing gloves.  “And I didn’t get to move about as much as the kids.”  Osgood sank down into the sofa and let out a contented sigh as she relaxed into the soft cushions, her eyes closing in instinctive relief.

 

“Numb bum?” guessed Kate, swinging her legs down so she was sitting up properly with her sock clad feet on the floor, her newspaper set aside as her girlfriend was far more interesting than the Weekend Review.  She didn’t have direct experience of the chairs in the particular church hall Osgood had spend the afternoon in, but she’d had to sit through her fair share of school performances and the like when Gordy had been very young to be able to clearly picture what Osgood had endured.

 

“Mmm, and bruised knees.”  Osgood opened one eye and watched unblinkingly as Kate reached forwards and gently patted Osgood’s left knee in sympathetic affection.  “The tables were that weird height that looks tall enough to get your knees under but are just too short.”

 

“Junior school sized,” diagnosed Kate with confidence, reaching forwards so she could soothe Osgood’s other wounded kneecap, seeing her girlfriend’s other eye open as she looked at Kate quizzically, not understanding the significance of Kate’s statement.  “When Gordy was in primary school, he was at the ‘Infants’ school for the first…”  Kate thought for a second, trying to remember as precisely as possible what had happened twenty years earlier.  “...three years, then the next three years were in the ‘Junior’ School.  Max moved to that primary school in the second year of Infants.”  

 

It had been something of a fluke when Kate had met Freddie in the school playground that first day of the new school year, each waiting for their sons to emerge after their school day was over.  Not long after Kate had completed her PhD, Freddie’s husband had been posted overseas and Freddie had gone with him, the Army providing married quarters and childcare for their son.  Three years later, and Freddie was back in England, living in a new house that she and her husband had bought off-base with some inheritances and savings, enabling them to bring Max up in a home that was theirs, rather than an endless shuffling of belongings from one set of married quarters to another.  Kate had known of their plans to return to the area, but neither had thought to imagine that their sons would end up in the same classroom, with the competition for primary school places rather fiercer than anyone without children ever really appreciated.  When, at the end of the following term, Freddie had been able to resume her academic career, back in the same department as her best friend, it clear that their sons were forming as strong a friendship as their mothers had.

 

“The kids were comfortable…” Osgood thought back to her day, which had seen her helping out one of her friends from her Chess Club.  “And some of them were very good.”

 

“Did anyone beat you?”  Kate asked the question in jest, not expecting there to be anyone capable of beating her girlfriend - Osgood was rarely beaten by the adult members of her own Chess Club unless she was compromised by UNIT in some way, with lack of sleep and concussion being usual culprits.  The idea that some Cubs or Brownies could beat her girlfriend was not something Kate was prepared to give serious consideration to.

 

“Three, two Brownies and a Cub.”  Osgood took off her glasses and rubbed her nose, trying to make the tingling feeling go away as her chilled extremity defrosted.  “They were quite good.”  Osgood put her glasses back on and blinked sleepily as her eyes adjusted again.  “And stop thinking about aliens…”

 

“But…”  Kate’s protest was silenced by Osgood’s look which Kate knew meant she was grasping the wrong end of the terrestrial stick.

 

“I’m not unbeatable at chess…”  reminded Osgood gently, finding it very sweet that Kate refused to countenance anyone ever beating her at chess, but that was more because of who she regularly played chess with than any claims of exceptional brilliance.  “...I’m not a Grandmaster.”  

 

Osgood didn’t hold any sort of ranking, having played in her final qualifying tournaments about the same time she finished her PhD.  Once she’d started working at the National Physics Laboratory, she joined a Civil Service chess club and out of that her current ‘chess club’ had formed.   Comprising a group of good friends, all of whose work was best not asked about too closely, especially when a series of get-togethers were missed with neither notice nor explanation, they played for love of the game rather than any intrinsic sense of competition or ranking.  Having said that, Osgood was, when she was able to keep her UNIT work sufficiently contained so as to leave her Wednesday evenings free for ‘Chess Club’ several weeks running, one of the more skilled and tactically varied players who was able to beat everyone with apparent ease once she’d shaken off the rust.

 

“And these Brownies were?”  Although she didn’t think it was probable, Kate was prepared to acknowledge the potential for it to be possible for the young children to be supremely talented at chess, knowing that age was not an automatic correlant with ability, as Gordy had proven by the time he was 12, beating her routinely.  

 

Kate was a very workmanlike chess player, aware of the basic rules about how the pieces moved and the overall objectives, but had not the same love and instinct for it that she had for Bridge.  What had started as a less cumbersome pursuit than skiing during her first winter in Geneva had become a much enjoyed hobby that, unlike Osgood’s chess play, seemed to be at Kate’s fingertips irrespective of whether her previous game had been a moment or a month ago.  With her polyglot language skills, Kate had found herself in demand to make up fours in a variety of languages amongst the UNIT and wider International communities in Geneva, exposing her to a wide range of playing styles and strategies which she’d in turn absorbed with ease. 

 

“No…”  Osgood wiggled on the sofa a little, finding a more comfortable position to relax in now that the initial novelty of being able to sit on something adult-sized and with padding had passed.  “...but they were remarkably inventive considering what they’d been taught in terms of established tactics.”  Fidgeting complete, Osgood considered Kate’s position, which was perched on the very edge of the sofa, her body twisted round so she could see Osgood.  “Are you going somewhere?”  It was the only reasonable explanation Osgood could come up with for the rather awkward looking position.

 

“Do you want some tea to warm you up?” asked Kate, a small bubble of laughter bursting in the space between them when she saw the rather pained expression on Osgood’s face - clearly she’d been plied with too many mugs already.  “Hot water bottle?”

 

“Is that your new middle name?”

 

“Does it need to be?”

 

“It would have to be hyphenated…” pondered Osgood even as Kate, hint taken, was resettling herself on the sofa, only this time she was using Osgood as a backrest rather than the armrest and cushion.  “...otherwise you’d have more initials than Max…” While he’d never give up any of his names, Max was the first to advise friends of his contemplating what to name their children that a name which gave rise to six initials was probably two too many unless they had a particularly compelling reason to be so long-winded.

 

“And it would cause no end of problems when ‘Pillow’ and ‘Back Rest’ found they’d been excluded,” teased Kate, thinking of the other household objects she was glad to be Osgood’s preferred substitute for.

 

“Mmm…”  Wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, Osgood’s still cold fingers sought out the little gaps appearing between Kate’s shirt and jeans.

 

“O-sss….” hissed Kate, jumping in shock when she felt the coolness of her girlfriend’s fingers, suggesting that Os had forgotten to put her gloves on once she’d stopped playing chess.

 

“Sorry…” muttered Osgood, kissing the side of Kate’s neck in semi-sincere apology.

 

“Hmm…”  Kate’s skepticism was soon displaced by a rather more encouraging sound as Osgood continued her careful exploration of Kate’s neck, as if wanting to check that nothing had changed since their lazy morning earlier.   “How did they beat you?”

 

“Who?”  Osgood’s question came between two kisses, although in deference to Kate’s apparent tolerance of her cold fingers, she behaved and didn’t try to distract Kate too much with the kisses.

 

“The kids...you’re wonderfully inventive…"  Kate felt Osgood’s teeth nip playfully at her, prompting her to blush.  “...I was thinking about work…” she clarified, but the ‘damage’ was done and her blushing intensified as she recalled other ways in which Os’ inventiveness had been very enjoyable…  “How did they beat you?” she finally asked, drawing on the same resolve that had seen her stare down Generals, aliens and teenage sons at various points over the last decade or so.

 

“Umm…”  Recognising that Kate genuinely wanted to know, Osgood shifted position again until they were lying on the sofa together, instinctively arranging themselves in a comfortable tangle of legs and arms that also made conversation and the crossword possible.  “I was playing the children six at a time, moving between each board….”

 

“Like you do with the boys sometimes still?” 

 

“Yes.”  Osgood would set up two boards, one each for Max and Gordy, and move between the two.  It gave the boys twice as much thinking time per move as she got, plus they had their board in front of them all the time, whereas for Osgood she had to think more quickly about what options she had and what move she wanted to take.  It also made it harder for her to plan too far ahead as she was having to switch between the two games rather than concentrate on one.  As handicaps went, it wasn’t a particularly complex or aggressive one, but it was enough to ensure that it usually took at least a dozen moves to start to trap them in Check.  “Anna had taught them some basic openings and defences and to get their hobby badge they had to then use what they’d learned in the games against me.”

 

“So you were marking them?” As she asked her question, Kate stuck a hand down between the sofa seat cushions, trying to work out what was prodding her in the thigh, discovering her fortunately undamaged reading glasses, which she tucked in the open neck of her shirt.

 

“Checking they were playing with a recognised opening or defence,” corrected Osgood mildly, trying not to yelp when Kate’s elbow dug into her.  “Anna had taught them four basic openings for White to use and four classic defences for when they were Black.”

 

“Have I met Anna?” Kate knew a few members of Osgood’s chess club by name, and a couple quite well, but ‘Anna’ wasn’t familiar to her and she was struggling to picture her.

 

“No.  I don’t really know her either, she’s Claire’s friend, but Claire…”

 

“...is caught up with the…thing”  

 

Kate did know who Claire was, and did feel a bit guilty that the other woman had been rather overwhelmed in her office this past week or so due in part to something UNIT had done.  It had however been entirely accidental, unlike the chaos Claire’s organisation had created last month that had seen Kate managing to be at the top of the Downing Street shit list for an irritating fortnight.  

 

“Exactly.  So Claire couldn’t go today and asked me to help Anna with chess, since I couldn’t go help with the…”  Osgood’s nose twitched as she tried to shift her glasses into a more comfortable position.

 

“How many kids were there?”  Kate didn’t want Os thinking about Claire’s predicament any longer - it really wasn’t Osgood’s fault the computer systems had fallen over under the increased load that arose from the UNIT incident, but Osgood was such a perfectionist she wasn’t happy that she’d not thought about such a risk.

 

“Twenty-four taking Chess as a hobby.”  Osgood’s glasses were refusing to settle somewhere comfortable, meaning she now had to live with slightly askew vision as she wasn’t interested in moving her hands from underneath Kate’s clothes.

 

“21 from 24 is a pretty good win/loss record…”  Kate was just in the process of working out what seven eighths was as a percentage when Osgood beat her to it with a gentle correction.

 

“It was actually 45 from 48, each one played a game against me as both white and black.  The ones that beat me only beat me once each.”  Osgood frowned, thinking she sounded rather mean spirited by not letting the children win.  “But it wasn’t about them winning or losing, but about them playing to a strategy that they’d thought about.  If I didn’t stick to strategies and defences they’d been taught, they weren’t getting a fair chance to demonstrate what they’d learned.”

 

“And did they?  Demonstrate their skills?”  Kate knew that Osgood would have been scrupulously careful at ensuring she played within the parameters of the children’s knowledge, which explained why she’d been beaten by children being ‘inventive’ as Osgood would have still kept to her side of the ‘rules’ for them..

 

“They did, so all got their badges.”  Osgood’s cheeks pinked at the memory of the final part of her afternoon’s experience.  “I was asked to present them.”

 

“Were they sticky?”  Kate’s memory of Gordy’s brief attempt at Cubs was everything had to be stitched on to shirts and sweaters which, in the middle of a young boy’s growth spurt, soon felt like a weekly chore. 

 

“No, they were made to wash their hands first, which was good because when not playing chess they’d been doing craft stuff or model-making with glue.”  Osgood’s face had wrinkled in horror at the idea of twentty-four sticky children hugging her as she gave them their hobby badges.

 

“I meant the badges, not the children….” Kate leaned back against Os and twisted her head just enough so she could deliver a sloppy kiss that might have been combined with a blown ‘raspberry’ in response to Osgood’s misunderstanding.  “...I’m sure I sewed the same badge three or four times on Gordy’s shirt when he was growing like a weed.”

 

“I knew that…” Osgood thought back to the small fabric patches she’d handed out to the clearly proud children that had earned them through their chess skills.  “...I think they’re still sew-on.  Do they earn a sewing badge for stitching them on themselves?”

 

“If they did, Gordy wasn’t ever interested in earning it.  I think I earned it though…”  Kate tried to remember her short lived experience in the Guides without actually trying to think about how long ago it would have been.  “...I’ve always assumed that’s how I know how to turn a hem and darn properly.  That and I doubt my mother would have let me do orienteering or camp fire lighting or whatever the more adventurous ones were if there was a sewing badge to get first, but I think it was all a bit more...starched then than it is now.  Certainly the uniforms were more pinafores and berets rather than the baseball caps and t-shirts I see the kids have now...”

 

Silence.

 

Admittedly it wasn’t the most scintillating conversation they could have in front of the crackling fire on a gloomy winter weekend afternoon, but Kate was a little bit surprised to get no response at all from Osgood...and then she felt the weight of her girlfriend’s head settle against her shoulder.

 

Mystery solved, Kate put her reading glasses on and picked up the newspaper, turning her attention to the crossword which she’d only just started when Osgood had got home.  She was unlikely to finish it before Osgood woke up from her nap, but she’d have a good go...right, two down…

 

Reading the clue, Kate smiled when she realised the answer was ‘Poinsettia’ as that meant her hunch that one across was the more sensible ‘epicure’ rather than her more sarcastic idea of ‘glutton’.  At this rate, maybe she would be mostly finished by the time Os was awake….

 

* * *

  
  


“Hmm…”  Blinking, Osgood focussed on the folded newspaper she could see just over Kate’s shoulder which, based on how her chin was feeling, had obviously been her headrest while she had an unexpected nap.  “...Thallium has two Ls not one…”

 

“I thought it did, but I was hoping it didn’t…”  Kate found her incorrectly spelled answer in the grid and used it to find the clue in full.  “...Period 6 element, Tm has a relative atomic mass of 168.934...Thallium is a Period 6 element isn’t it?”

 

“Yes, but so is Thulium which only has one L.  Thallium is...204.38.”  At other times and with other people in her life, Osgood had been teased for her ability to know the relative atomic masses of all the elements to more than one decimal place, but Kate had never been one of those people.

 

“Thank you.  I can then spell Lac Leman properly…”  That had been irritating Kate for the last ten minutes or so, as Thulium meant she had a ‘u’ in 37 down not an ‘a’, which then meant it had to be ‘Uganda’ not ‘Angola’ (although she’d been rather chuffed she could come up with two countries bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo that were six letters long and  _ not  _ Zambia), “...as the third letter of Uganda is an ‘A’.”

 

“No problem.  What’s that long one?”

 

“Which long one?”  Kate wasn’t finding Osgood’s directions narrowing it down much as to her eye, she still had a few too many ‘long ones’ left to work out, although the crossword was more than two thirds complete.

 

“The one that has the ‘C’ of ‘Lac’ as its fifth letter.”

 

“Oh, that one...I think it’s the weird chess one.”

 

“How weird?”

 

“Otherwise known as Benko’s opening in Chess, the King’s  _ something _ opening, ten letters.”  As far as Kate was concerned, that was definitely a weird chess clue and she’d been saving it for when Os woke up, along with the one about Saturn’s moons that she could no longer find....

 

“G3….”  Osgood closed her eyes and pictured a chess board, counting off the squares under her breath.  “...White’s King Bishop pawn, so that means…fianchetto.”  She’d always known that particular play as Benko’s opening, but now she thought about it, the King’s Fianchetto opening did more accurately describe the construction of the play.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Fianchetto.  It’s…”  Osgood was about to spell it when Kate thrust the paper and pen at her.

 

“...something you can fill in while I put another log on the fire…”  Kate paused when her feet landed on the floor, looking back at Os who was concentrating on filling in the answer.  “...unless…”

 

“Hmm?”  Looking up at Kate, Osgood instinctively smiled at her girlfriend, the smile a wordless confirmation of her genuine contentment at this precise moment.

 

“You happy to stay put with the fire tonight?”  It had been so long since they’d had a Saturday evening without anything cropping up, be it work or other plans or the boys, that Kate wasn’t sure if they should be trying to do something more exciting than stopping in.

 

“Are you staying put with me?” asked Osgood, wondering if Kate was about to remind her of some Bridge evening or other plans she’d forgotten about.

 

“If you’ll have me…” teased Kate, leaning forwards and stealing a kiss from her still slightly sleepy and confused lover before going to put another log or two on the fire.  “...I can up my bid to include beans on toast for supper if you like?”  She’d not really thought about what they might have for supper, but suddenly had a hankering for the quick and easy comfort food.

 

“With a gin and tonic?” asked Osgood hopefully, liking the sound of their plan.

 

“Mmm…”  Kate dropped the second log into the grate and put the fireguard back in place.  “Sounds perfect.”  As she stood up, her stomach sounded its agreement loudly, drawing Osgood’s attention and prompting Kate into a confession.  “...I might have forgotten about lunch…”

 

“Silly fool…” muttered Osgood with affection as she put the folded newspaper down on the coffee table and stood up, stretching a little in the process.  “Come on.”  Osgood held out her hand in a gesture meant to get Kate moving with her, only to accidentally trigger her girlfriend’s stubborn streak.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“Kitchen, for beans on toast.”

 

“Now?  But it’s…”  Kate glanced at the carriage clock on the nearby shelves that had been her father’s.

 

“Time to feed the monster,” teased Osgood, stepping round the coffee table and giving Kate’s flat stomach an affectionate pat, like she was petting a dog.  “Idiotic thing…” she added, her head instinctively drifting towards Kate’s as their lips met in a long, lazy kiss that stopped only when ‘the monster’ asserted itself again.

 

Laughing at Kate’s rather indignant expression, Osgood caught hold of her hand and together they headed for the kitchen, intent on making a quick supper before settling back down to a relaxed evening in front of the fire.

 

* * *

 

 

“Kate?”  Osgood was stood in front of the cupboard they kept tins and dry foods in, frowning.

 

“Yes?”  Kate paused with the gin bottle poised mid pour, wondering what Osgood’s question was going to be,

 

“Do we even have any baked beans?”  Osgood couldn’t remember buying any in ages.

 

“Ah.” Kate considered what food they did have as, like Osgood, now she thought about it, she’d no memory of buying baked beans either.   “Not unless you bought any?”

 

“Ah.”  Osgood closed the cupboard door, thinking about what else they could make that would be quick to make and then eat so they could get back to relaxing in front of the fire….and then she grinned.

 

It was obvious really when she thought about it.

 

Heading over to the fridge, baked beans forgotten, Osgood assembled the ingredients she’d need to make their supper…. The loaf of granary bread, butter, the piece of cheddar they’d just started and, since the Universe had allowed them to actually be at home to receive their online grocery order on Thursday evening, two ripe red tomatoes.  

 

Osgood might only have a win:loss ratio of 96% when playing chess against 8 year olds still learning how to play the game, but if their relationship was a game of chess, this would always be Osgood’s opening gambit: two slices of granary bread and cheddar cheese, with a bit of butter to hold it all together and a tomato on the side…

 

“Is that…?”

 

“A cheese sandwich? Yes.”  Grinning as she finished making the sandwiches, Osgood nodded to the bag on the countertop.  “You can wash the tomatoes.”

 

“Tip top!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
